CNN’s POLITICAL GUT CHECK | for July 20, 2012 | 5 p.m.
— n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

BREAKING: GUNS USED IN COLORADO SHOOTING ALL PURCHASED LEGALLY: A law enforcement source working the investigation tells CNN’s Ed Lavandera:

2 guns were purchased at Bass Pro Shop in Denver
1 gun was purchased at Gander Mountain Guns in Aurora
1 gun was purchased in Gander Mountain Guns in Thorton
Investigators also found a drum magazine, capable of carrying 100 rounds. This was used in the AR-15 assault rifle.

All the weapons, the source said, were purchased legally in the last six months.

Leading Drudge:‘Joker’ Kills 13 at ‘Batman’
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the gunman suspected of attacking a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, resembled Batman’s arch-villain “The Joker” at the time of the shocking attack. – CBS New York/AP

Leading HuffPo:Movie Theatre Massacre
A graduate student in a gas mask barged into a crowded Denver-area theater during a midnight showing of the new Batman movie Friday, hurled a gas canister and then opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring at least 50 others in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history. – Thomas Peipert

Leading Politico:Campaigns pause after shootings
President Barack Obama on Friday called the Colorado movie theater shooting “senseless” and said his administration “stands ready to do whatever is necessary to bring whoever is responsible for this heinous crime to justice.” – Reid J. Epstein and Darren Samuelsohn

Leading New York Times:Obama Cuts Short Florida Campaign Trip
President Obama reflected in highly personal ways about the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater on Friday as he cut short a campaign trip and urged Americans to reflect on the fragility of life. – Peter Baker

“There will be other days for politics. This will be a day for prayer and reflection.” – President Barack Obama, speaking in Fort Myers, Florida after cancelling his campaign events.

TRAIL MOMENTSThe political bites of the day

- Romney cancels campaign events -
PRESUMPTIVE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE MITT ROMNEY IN BOW, NEW HAMPSHIRE: “Our hearts break with the sadness of this unspeakable tragedy. Ann and I join the president and first lady and all Americans in offering our deepest condolences for those whose lives were shattered in a few moments - a few moments of evil - in Colorado.”

- Bloomberg calls out Obama, Romney -
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG IN AN INTERVIEW WITH WOR RADIO: “Soothing words are nice, but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country. And everybody always says, ‘Isn’t it tragic?’ And you know, we look for was the guy, as you said, maybe trying to recreate Batman. I mean, there are so many murders with guns every day, it’s just got to stop. And instead of the two people – President Obama and Governor Romney – talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, okay, tell us how. And this is a real problem.”

- Governor calls shootings “depravity” -
COLORADO GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER AT A PRESS CONFERENCE: “ President Obama called Mayor Hogan this morning, then called me. And I think his words are the same. There is not one of us that doesn’t read or hear of this story, certainly anyone who has children, and think about it being your child in that movie theatre. Or your cousin’s child or your neighbor’s child. And that reality makes the pain and the grief too intense for words, but we can't let it keep us from our lives.”

- This is “tough,” mayor says -
MAYOR STEVE HOGAN: “We’ve taken a blow today but we will get back on our feet and we will move ahead…. We’ll survive this. There’s no way around it. It’s tough. You can’t have that many people die and that many more people be injured in an absolutely senseless situation and not see it as anything but tough.”

- Gun Activists See Cowardice -
BRADY CAMPAIGN PRESIDENT DOUG GROSS: “This tragedy is another grim reminder that guns are the enablers of mass killers and that our nation pays an unacceptable price for our failure to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. We are outraged. …
As someone who has suffered the lasting impact of gun violence, and President of Brady, I can tell you that we don’t want sympathy. We want action. …We are insistent that our elected leaders take action to prevent future tragedies. Political cowardice is not an excuse for evasion and inaction on this life-and-death issue.”

TOP TWEETSWhat stopped us in 140 characters or less

I am stunned and furious at the news of the shooting at the Aurora Century 16 Movie theatre this morning. Our... fb.me/10OEYmHm5

GUT CHECK DVRSunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, talks about the Colorado movie theater massacre, the unraveling of the al-Assad regime in Syria, and Mitt Romney’s upcoming overseas trip. Then, the high stakes battle for control of the Senate with the Virginia Senate candidates, Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine. Plus, the latest on the Colorado theater shooting investigation. 9 a.m. ET on CNN.

soundoff(20 Responses)

J Dayton

Seems to me when one person is buying all these guns a national registry would have rang a bell?

July 20, 2012 05:32 pm at 5:32 pm |

T'sah From Virginia

I just had a family discussion with my son and I told him the 2nd Amendment law that gives the right for all to bear arms should not include an assault rifles or other guns that allow you to shoot an array of bullets with one load. He's under the impression that not just anyone can purchase an AR-15 assault rifle – I guess he was wrong.

We will talk about this and everyone will state the way the feel and make certain demands and then it will die. The NRA runs and America and the politicians are afraid of them... the American people would have to stand up and fight.

Obama 2012 – The Only Trusted Way Forward!

July 20, 2012 05:56 pm at 5:56 pm |

GonzoinHouston

There was a proposed regulation that would require retailers to report purchases of multiple assault-type weapons, with the idea of tracking arms that were sent to Mexico. I don't think it would have applied here since he went to multiple locations. In any event, the NRA and GOP fought it and defeated it.

July 20, 2012 06:05 pm at 6:05 pm |

California Gary

He was just a law abiding citizen who wanted to purchase all these various guns for hunting, sport, and personal protection. Just like all the other wack jobs that have purchased guns and then went on a rampage........how dare anyone say that easy access to guns had anything to do with this. Why, if he didn't have these guns, he probably would have gone in there with a knife and stabbed all those people anyway. Gun control is not the answer.......yeah, right!

July 20, 2012 06:26 pm at 6:26 pm |

DMR

Once again the predictable out cry for gun control. How about controlling the glamorized violence promoted and fed to our society on the big screen. Let's consider what is really influencing this destructive behavior.

July 20, 2012 07:20 pm at 7:20 pm |

rs

You know the purchases may have been "legal", but obviously something is very amiss when someone who can commit such a henious crime is able to buy such stuff. Clearly this is what happens when the NRA demands that everybody (including the criminal and insane) be able to buy guns, no questions asked- no background check, no licensing (hell, you even have to do that with automobiles), psychological, etc...

July 20, 2012 07:21 pm at 7:21 pm |

Edwin

What possible reason is there for a normal citizen to need a "drum magazine" that carries 100 rounds? There is no reason it needs to be legal without special, restrictive permits.

July 20, 2012 07:31 pm at 7:31 pm |

Tray66

CNN is showing their low ratings with the "Gut Check" business. This shooting, done by a lone lunatic, has no connection with politics. After Columbine, Gabrielle Giffords and Zimmerman the media goes into CMM (Collective Mourning Mode)
The only common denominator is the GUN. So do we blame Obama who.speaks of loss, as if on auto pilot.. The only loss I can see for him is in November . His priority seems to be Gay not Gun. People have died. The campaign must move on, not weakened by one man's horrific act. Gloom and doom Obama must go.

July 20, 2012 07:31 pm at 7:31 pm |

Tray66

Prove there is no liberal bias

July 20, 2012 07:33 pm at 7:33 pm |

mlr

gun control nuts like bloomberg out to use a tragedy as a campaign prop... No gun control laws will ever stop a lunatic... If the guns weren't legal, he would have simply bought them on the black market. Or used the bombs he created instead.

July 20, 2012 07:41 pm at 7:41 pm |

SallyinChicago

Thank you Mayor Bloomberg, but you're speaking to deaf ears. America likes violence. We're a thrill nation. And I agree with J Dayton, how did this man get all those guns? I think we need more violence like this - white on white violence instead of black on black violence. Because this is the only thing that will get action from white people for gun legislation.

July 20, 2012 07:47 pm at 7:47 pm |

SallyinChicago

Now on another point: Obama is quick to call whites when a bunch of them get killed, but what about the senseless and endless killing of black people by black people. Mr. President it's time to say something about urban killings.

July 20, 2012 07:51 pm at 7:51 pm |

LiberalsRPhonies

Thank Goodness we live in a country where the every law abiding citizen can legally own a gun and protect themselves. If it were up to liberals/progressives the only ones that would have guns are the GOVERNMENT. And as history shows us we can always trust the government..........

July 20, 2012 08:02 pm at 8:02 pm |

CanadaONE

Headline
CIVAL WAR BREAKS OUT IN AMERICA – more people in the USA have died from legal American guns and at the hands of fellow Americans than all AMERICAN WAR Deaths Combined including the past civil wars

Is America killing itself? The above American death rate is closing in on its birth rate

OUCH!!

July 20, 2012 08:10 pm at 8:10 pm |

CanadaONE

In the US, there are roughly 17,000 murders a year, of which about 15,000 are committed with firearms. By contrast, Britain, Australia and Canada combined see fewer than 350 gun-related murders each year.

OUCH

July 20, 2012 08:35 pm at 8:35 pm |

ge

there are a lot of guns like the one he used out there,and a lot of people just like him.where do bad guys get guns,they buy them at gun shops when they are good guys,its harder to buy a car then a gun

July 20, 2012 09:35 pm at 9:35 pm |

Jane

So tell us again, NRA, how it's awful to take away the god given (NRA given?) right of an Amurkin to buy and carry around weapons capable of firing off 100 rounds without stopping to reload? Tell us again, NRA, how if everyone in that theatre had been packing, they could have taken out the guy, and not shot three or four of their fellow moviegoers because they panicked and saw the flash of the other moviegoers gun and thought it was 'the bad guy'? Do we have to wait for some nutjob with a legally bought AK47 to bring down La Pierre before the NRA decides maybe this isn't a good thing????

July 20, 2012 09:45 pm at 9:45 pm |

GI Joe

Guns – Legal
Ammunition – Legal.

Murder?

July 21, 2012 07:51 am at 7:51 am |

Marie MD

NOBODY needs these many guns, plain and simple, period!!!

July 21, 2012 08:24 am at 8:24 am |

dreucalypt

Occasional massacres by psychopaths are perfectly OK as far as the Republican Party is concerned, so long as they get to keep demagoguing the gun control issue. All of their expressions of sorrow over these killings are just so many crocodile tears.